Automobile door lock



Feb. 21,1939. A. J. LEONARD 2,148,361

AUTOMOBI LE DOOR LOCK Original Filed April 21, 1936 gn/ue/wfov Z0 AZZerZJieflraard,

3 M mam;

Patented Feb. 21, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AUTOMOBILE DOOR LOCKAlbert J. Leonard, La Canada, Calif.

Original application April 21, 1936, Serial No. 75,615. Divided and thisapplication January 31, 1938, Serial No. 187,950

Fig. is a detail view of one of the locking dogs.

Locks of this general type with which I am familiar have provendeficient in that the operating handles lend themselves to being actedupon by an additional leverage force to be in some 5 instances twistedoff and in others breaking the lock mechanism, thereby permittingunauthorized access to the car and necessitating a new handle and lockstructure, it also requiring manipulation of a key to gain access to thecar and again to lock the car, and it was to overcome such deficienciesand to provide means, without departing materially from the conventionalhandle design, to substantially conceal the operating handles so as toeliminate protuberances and accentuate the streamlining idea, andwithout disturbing the key locking handle mechanism, except bymanipulation of the key to gain entrance to the car from the outside inthe first instance, and which I have accomplished by the unique andsimplified lock construction forming the subject matter of thisinvention.

In the illustrated embodiment characterizing this invention there isshown, in the present instance, an automobile door I in which isprovided a cut out portion A formed at the inner surface of the doorwith a countersunk portion 2 communicating with an enlarged cylindricalbore 3, a reduced bore 4, and terminating at the outer surface of thedoor in a recess 5 substantially conforming to and constituting a seatadapted to receive the door operating handle 6, as will be well 3Claims.

Generically this invention relates to door looks, but it more especiallyis directed to the type particularly applicable to the doors of theclosed bodies of motor vehicles and constitutes a division 5 of mypending application, Serial No. 75,615, filed April 21, 1936, entitledAutomobile door lock, and is an improvement on my Patent No. 2,104,838,issued January 11, 1938, for Automobile door lock. One of the principalobjects of this invention is the provision of a lock of this characterhaving an outside actuating handle which when in latch operating andnon-locking position is spaced from the outer surface of the door, and Hadapted to be pushed against spring tension into a complemental recessin said door surface, such improvement effecting automatic locking ofthe door in closed position and the handle in said recess.

Another important object of this invention is 2 the provision of a lockof this character wherein the handle in non-locking position rests in aplane spaced from the surface of the door and compressible against theaction of a spring into a complemental recess in said door surface toeffect automatic locking of the door and the handle in the recess,thereby preventing access to said handle by unauthorized persons andeliminating the employment by such persons of leverage force to damagethe locking mechanism or breaking the handle in, gaining access to theinterior of vehicle and eliminating the use of a key except when it isdesired to unlock the door, however, insertion and manipulation of thekey in the lock releases the locking mechanism and the handle isrestored to its initial position by said spring and the action ofeffecting withdrawal of the key from the lock restores the locking meansto operative locking position.

With these and other objects in View, which 6 will become apparent asthe description proceeds,

the invention resides in the construction, combination and arrangementof parts, hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and illustratedin the accompanying drawing, in which like characters of referenceindicate like parts throughout the several figures, of which:

Fig. 1 is a horizontal section through the lock and portion ofautomobile door showing the handle in plan and in extended position.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 with the handle in retracted andlocked position.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Spaced inwardly from the inner surface of the door is a plate I securedby screws 8 or in any Operating handle 6 is formed with a cylindricalshank 9, the inner end of which is adapted to be welded, screwed orotherwise suitably connected to plate 9 adapted to seat against the endwall of bore 3 when the handle 6 is in extended position. Mounted insaid shank and extending to the surface of said handle is a lockstructure B operable by key It). connected to the key operatingmechanism of lock B is a cylindrical member H extending through shank 9and plate 9 and within enlarged bore 3 a and mounted on said member Hadjacent its free end is a rectangular latch plate I2 formed with abeveled edge l3 swedged, welded or other- Said cylindrical member isformed with a longitudinal bore l4 preferably square in cross section.and adapted to telescopically receive the similarly shaped end of shaftIS. The free end of shaft I5 is cylindrical and extends through openingIS in plate 1.

suitable manner.

wise secured thereto.

is formed at its free end with a threaded nut or head I! adapted to restin a plane substantially co-incident with the inner surface of the doorI. On opposite sides of shaft [.5 plate 1 is formed with upstanding ears[8 to which are pivotally mounted at their upper ends dogs l9, each ofwhich is formed at its upper end with an oppositely projecting latchtooth 20 and a beveled surface 2| adapted to engage the beveled surfacel3 of latch plate l2, as will hereinafter more fully appear. In order tolimit the movement of the dogs in meeting direction plate 1 is formedadjacent each dog with an upstanding lug 22. Each of said dogs at itsupper end is formed with a rearwardly projecting lug 23 and suitablyconnected to which and preferably seating on plate I or in a seat 23'formed therein, is spring 24 adapted to resiliently maintain the dog ina perpendicular and latch engaging position, but permitting sufficientspread of the dogs to permit passage of latch plate l2 therebetween whenhandle 6 is depressed, as will hereinafter be mor fully apparent.

Mounted in bore 3 and seating against plates 1 and 9' is a compressionspring 25 which is adapted to normally urge handle 6 outwardly, and whensaid handle is depressed bringing latch plate l2 beneath teeth 20, saidhandle will be firmly held in recess and in locked position, as will beapparent. To unlock the door it is only necessary to insert key ID inlook B and actuate the same to move latch plate I 2 at right angles toits position when engaged by dogs l9, thereby releasing it from saiddogs and permitting the handle to be returned to its initial non-lockingWhen key I0 is and latch operating position. actuated to permit itswithdrawal from lock B it returns latch plate l2 to locking position sothat to again lock the door it is necessary only to depress handle 6 toits position in recess 5.

While I have not shown a liner mounted in the cut out portion A andconforming to the configuration thereof, it is to be understood thatsuch casing or lining may be employed if desired without affecting thescope of this invention. It will also be noted that countersunk portion2 is adapted to house a portion of the remote control mechanism C,whereby the latch may be operated from within the car, but as such meansforms no part of the present invention it is not herein illustrated ordescribed in detail.

While as above stated the door may be opened from the interior of thecar by the remote control mechanism without disturbing the lockedarrangement of parts for removing the handle from the recess as abovedescribed, the door cannot be opened from the exterior of the carwithout the use of the key.

In regard to the remote control mechanism, it will be apparent that theoperator C may be connected to the latch bolt in any well known manner,as by a lost motion connection or a clutch connection, and since thisconstruction forms no part of applicants invention it is not deemednecessary to illustrate it in detail.

From the above it will be apparent that I have designed a vehicle doorlock and handle structure of the character described, comprising fewparts, simple in construction, manufacturable at a reasonable cost, andefficient for the purposes intended.

Although in practice I have found that the form of my inventionillustrated in the accompanying drawing and referred to in the abovedescription as the preferred embodiment is the most efiicient andpractical; yet realizing the conditions concurrent with the adoption ofmy invention will necessarily vary, I desire to emphasize that variousminor changes in details of construction, proportion and arrangement ofparts, may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claimswithout departing from or sacrificing any of the principles of thisinvention.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire protected by LettersPatent is as set forth in the following claims:

1. In means for operating a door operating mechanism, the combination ofa shaft, a handle provided with a hollow shank adapted to slide oversaid shaft so as to alter its position with respect to said shaft, meansto releasably maintain said shaft and shank in relatively contractedposition comprising a dog pivotally mounted in spaced parallelism withrespect to said shaft, a shoulder associated with the shank and adaptedto be engaged by the dog when said shank and shaft are in theirrelatively contracted position, resilient means normally urging the doginto engagement with said shoulder, and means in connection with theshank and manually operable to disassociate the shoulder and the dogwithout changing the normal position of the latter.

2. In means for operating a door operating mechanism, the combination ofa shaft, a handle provided with a hollow shank adapted to slide oversaid shaft so as to alter its position with respect to said shaft, meansto releasably maintain said shaft and shank in relatively contractedposition comprising a pair of pivoted dogs mounted in spaced parallelismwith respect to said shaft, a shoulder associated with the shank andadapted to be engaged by the dogs when said shank and shaft are in theirrelatively contracted position, resilient means normally urging the dogsinto engagement with said shoulder, and means in connection with theshank and manually operable to disassociate said shoulder and dogswithout changing the normal positions of the latter.

3. In means for operating a door operating mechanism, the combination ofa shaft, a handle provided with a hollow shank adapted to slide oversaid shaft so as to alter its position with respect to said shaft, meansto releasably maintain said shaft and shank in relatively contractedposition comprising a pair of pivoted dogs mounted on opposite sides ofand in spaced relation with respect to said shaft, springs in connectionwith the respective dogs, a shoulder element associated with the shankand adapted to be engaged by the dogs when said shank and shaft are intheir relatively contracted position, said dogs on impact beingdisplaced to permit passage of the shoulder element when the latter ismoved to its contracted position, said springs moving the dogs intolocking engagement with said element, and means in connection with theshank and manually operable to effect disengagement of the dogs andshoulder element.

ALBERT J. LEONARD.

